Alfred Vail -- b.9/25/1807 d.1/18/1859 (51)Inventor, ManufacturerNames/Places: MN:LewisMisc: telegraph pioneer and an associate and financial backer of Samuel F.B. Morse in the experimentation that made the telegraph a commercial reality.

Theodore Newton Vail -- b.7/16/1845 d.4/16/1920 (74)Businessperson, ExecutiveMisc: executive who twice headed the Bell Telephone Company at critical times and played a major role in establishing telephone services in the United States.

Tannis Vallely -- b.12/28/1975Actress, Casting DepartmentNames/Places: James's daughterTV Shows: Head of the Class (as prodigy Janice Lazorotto)Movie Titles: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Martin van Buren -- b.12/5/1782 d.7/24/1862 (79)President/Vice President, Senator, GovernorNames/Places: b. in Kinderhook, NY, d. in Kinderhook, NYMisc: the 8th U.S. Vice President and the 8th U.S. President (1837-41); the first native-born U.S. president; one of the founders of the Democratic Party. He was known as the "Little Magician" because of his reputed cunning and skill as a politician

Hendrik Christoffel Van De Hulst -- b.11/19/1918 d.7/31/2000 (81)Astronomer, Mathematician, Dutch (Netherlands)Misc: predicted theoretically the 21-centimetre radio waves produced by interstellar hydrogen atoms. His calculations later proved valuable in mapping the Milky Way Galaxy and were the basis for radio astronomy during its early development.

William Henry Vanderbilt -- b.5/8/1821 d.12/8/1885 (64)PhilanthropistMisc: railroad magnate who nearly doubled the Vanderbilt family fortune established and in large part bequeathed to him by his father, Cornelius; father of Cornelius II.